TRENDS ..... Wednesday

[Spark]

Hot pitchers
-- Davis is 3-3, 2.21 his last dozen starts, had 3.60 RA in five starts vs Pirates last year.
-- Atlanta was 13-1 in last fourteen Hampton starts; he was 4-0, 1.15 his last five, and 3-2, 4.55 vs the Marlins last season.
-- Millwood only threw six innings after August 1, but he was on winning side in 10 of his last eleven starts.... .......Garcia was 2-1, 2.33 his last three starts, 1-0, 1.93 against Cleveland last season (with the White Sox).
-- Twins won Silva's last six regular season starts (4-0, 2.65); he was 1-0, 1.80 vs Seattle......Madritsch is 3-1, 3.00 his last five starts; M's are 3-1 his last 4 at home.
-- Mussina has a 1.63 RA in last three regular season starts at home.


Cold pitchers
-- Kip Wells was 1-3, 4.32 his last eight starts; Pirates were 4-13 in his starts if they scored five or less runs.
-- Marquis was 1-3, 6.91 in his last five regular season starts, and had 6.00 RA vs Astros last year.....Pettitte is making first start since August 12; he was 0-3, 2.87 in his last three '04 starts.
-- Leiter was 1-5, 5.40 his last eight starts, but had 1.46 RA against the Braves last season.
-- Day was 1-4, 5.68 his last eight '04 starts, but was 1-0, 1.93 vs Phils last year........Myers was 2-3, 7.40 in his last eight starts, 0-2, 12.46 vs Expos/Nationals.
-- Glavine was 1-3, 6.99 his last five starts, 0-2, 3.66 vs Cincinnati....Milton was 0-2, 5.54 his last two starts, he lost his last six home starts for Phillies last year, and was 0-1, 5.82 against the Mets.
-- Eaton was 2-3, 4.81 his last seven starts, 1-4, 8.69 vs Colorado, but Padres won 9 of his last eleven starts on road........Jennings was 0-2, 4.34 last seven starts, but was 3-1, 4.65 in six starts vs Padres last season.
-- Dempster didn't start a game last year; he was 3-7 in 20 starts for Reds in '03......Webb was 0-3, 5.40 in his last five starts, but threw seven shutout innings against the Cubs in his only 2004 start against them.

-- Hernandez didn't pitch in bigs last year, but made 28 starts in 2002-03, and was 11-9, 4.50, allowing 166 hits in 166 IP, but he didn't pitch last year.......Maroth was 1-6, 3.71 his last eight starts and 1-4, 3.71 vs the Royals last season.
-- Towers was 0-4, 8.82 his last four starts, but had an RA of 2.75 in three starts vs Devil Rays. Hendrickson was 1-6, 8.71 his last eight starts, and was 0-2, 12.60 vs Toronto last season.
-- Harden is out with blister problem; Saarloos threw a total of 22.1 IP in five starts last year (2-1, 4.84)........ Cabrera allowed five runs in 2.2 IP in his only '04 start against Oakland last season, losing 9-4.
-- Wakefield is 1-3, 9.46 his last six regular season tilts but was 1-0, 4.12 in three '04 starts vs Bronx.
-- Rogers is 2-2, 6.11 his last five starts.......Washburn is 0-3, 4.75 his last five regular season starts, and 0-2, 5.19 against the Rangers last season.

Totals
-- Under was 7-1-2 in Davis' last ten starts, 1-4 in last five starts by Wells.
-- Under was 5-0-1 in last six Pettitte starts, 6-3 in last nine Marquis outings.
-- Seven of last nine Hampton starts went over total.
-- Under was 17-3 in Day's '04 starts.
-- Over was 7-2 in Glavine's last nine starts.
-- Over is 9-4 in Eaton's last 13 starts, but 3-9 in last dozen starts by Jennings.
-- Under is 6-2 in Webb's last eight starts.
-- Last eight Maroth starts stayed under the total.
-- Over is 6-2 in last eight Towers starts, 4-1 in last five Hendrickson outings.
-- Under is 6-2 in last eight Silva starts, 4-1 in last five Madritsch outings.
-- Over is 8-2 in last ten Cabrera outings.
-- Over is 11-3-2 in last 16 Wakefield regular season starts.
-- Under is 9-5 in last fourteen Rogers starts, 4-1-1 in last six Washburn outings.

[Spark]

Game of the Day
Wizards @ Pistons-- Washington lost at home to the Celtics last night, but they've been playing better on the road, winning four of last five on foreign soil; they are 0-3 vs Pistons this season, losing by 2,9,21 pts. Detroit won, covered its last three games- they haven't played since Sunday. Under is 3-1 in their last four games.


Elsewhere, Bucks ended eight-game losing streak vs the Knicks Sunday; they're 4-11 vs spread in last 15 games. Celtics won for just second time in last seven games last night; four of their last five games went over the total.

Grizzlies are 3-5 in last eight games, with seven of last 10 staying under total; they beat Raptors 86-75 in first game in series this year. Toronto lost seven of its last ten tilts, allowing 103+ points in each of their last six ballgames.

Bobcats' fifth straight loss was tough one last night, by a hoop vs Clippers; they're 3-6 vs spread last nine games on road and 0-2 vs Sixers this year, losing by 23,2 pts. Philly ended three-game loss streak with win at Boston Sunday; five of their last six games stayed under total.

Bulls had nine-game win streak shattered by Shaq-less Heat in Miami last night; they're 15-10-1 vs spread in its last 26 road games. Orlando trail Sixers by game in the playoff race; they're 4-6 under Jent, with seven of last 8 games going over the total.

Cleveland lost 14 of last 21 games, three of last four, as they lost at home to Nets by 31 last night; five of the last seven Cavalier games went over total. Indiana won two of three vs Cavs this season, winning 106-82 in their first series meeting at this site this season. Pacers won their last four games (3-1 vs spread).

Red-hot Nuggets won 18 of last 20 games, winning four in row (3-1 vs spread); they won by 94-93 in its last visit to Bourbon Street February 27. Hornets won in Atlanta last night; they're 1-4 vs spread in game following their last five wins, but covered four of last five overall.

Spurs haven't played since Saturday; they're 4-1 in last five games, with last four staying under total, but just 3-5 vs spread in last eight games. Clippers won its last two games, both on road, but vs Hawks, Bobcats; their last three losses were all by ten or more points.

Minnesota won six of last seven games, but they're 5-9 vs spread last 14 games, with eight of last 11 under total. Jazz are horrendous, but they won last night, their third in last 16 tries. This is first Utah road game in 18 days; they are 9-7 vs spread in their last sixteen road games.

White-hot Warriors beat Houston last night, their sixth in row, ninth in last ten games; they're 15-4-1 vs spread in their last 20 games. Blazers lost for 19th time in last 21 games at Utah last night; they're 6-15 vs spread in those 21 games, 3-11 in last fourteen at home.

[Spark]

Wednesday List of 13, random thoughts.........
13) College teams will do anything to get on television; Frozen Four, college hockey's final four, skips week, so they get featured spot on ESPN this weekend.

Women's tournament has their title game on a Tuesday night, for maximum exposure. The NBA even defer's to the men's final and didn't play any games Monday.

12) It figures that the first major leaguer suspended for steroids was a guy on Tampa Bay who has 4 lifetime homers, and whom Detroit cut this spring, after he hit .322 last year. This guy, 38 minor leaguers, no stars, and Barry Bonds didn't even have to go in front of Congress.

11) Major league teams protect their Opening Day sellouts by having off days the next day, so if it rains, they have Opening Day (and sellout crowd) 24 hours later.

10) Pirate owner McClatchy complained that the Mets had screwed up the market for pitchers when they gave Benson $7M a year; the mediocre, off-injured Benson has never lived up to his potential, and now he's hurt again. Get used to it, Met fans.

9) If I were starting a real major league team, not a fantasy team, and could choose any member of the Bronx team to be on my club, I would want Hideki Matsui.

8) Bret Boone's grandfather Ray was the scout who signed Curt Schilling to his first big league contract, when both worked for the Red Sox.

7) There is a Golf Channel, NFL Network, NBATV; hell, there's Food Network, Speed Channel, TVG (horse racing channel), even a hideous soccer channel, but there is no baseball channel. How can this be?

6) Jesse Palmer, third-string QB for the Giants, but better known as the former Bachelor on ABC, is a color commentator for New York Dragon games in the Arena League.

5) Since Seahawk coaches allowed Shawn Alexander to lose the rushing title by a single yard last year, can we assume that Seattle would be just as happy to see him in another uniform by time training camp opens? You'd think they would have made sure he got the league title, if they really thought highly of him.

4) You need to wear a collared shirt to be in gallery for The Masters. No t-shirts.

3) There is an ad on one of the websites I read: "Buy one, get 40% off second purchase at NHL.com". That is great, but what does NHL stand for? Is it a league of some kind?

2) North Carolina-Illinois national title game was first time since 1975, John Wooden's last game as a coach (UCLA-Kentucky), that the #1 and #2 teams in the AP poll met for the title.

1) Memo to ESPN: We understand you're trying to be journalists by dragging up steroids story during games, but fact of the matter is this: Most of us, the average fan, could give a rat's ass about steroids. Show us the games, talk about the games, and entertain us. Don't impress us with what great journalists you are, most of us don't care.

[keawe]

Thanks for all the info Spark!!
Goodluck today!!